I learned quite a bit from the nice folks at Cook's Country this year. I adapted their cat head biscuits to make biscuits the perfect size for a sausage sandwich or biscuits and gravy. They're so excellent and so easy 'cause you don't need to roll them--you just use a cookie scoop to portion out the batter.

Cook's Country also taught me a great recipe for herb crusted tenderloin. Merry Christmas!

I learned--and documented in video--how to make my mom's apple pie. She makes it look so easy.

I made Momofuku corn cookies. They're OUTSTANDING!

I learned to make an ABC (almond, banana, coconut) kale smoothie at home instead of spending $7 for one at our local farmers' market.

I made my own pork meatball banh mi for the first time--pickled vegetables, too, of course.

I made a few new friends with my bourbon salted caramel frosting.

I made bolognese for the first time. And my own homemade ginger hooch!

I still need to learn to make scacciata--it's my goal for 2013, though I really hoped to learn from the nonna I know this year.

I didn't learn to make a yellow cake from scratch I loved. My heart still belongs to Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden until I find a recipe I prefer. :)

ETA: I learned the magic of bacon guacamole and the BLT salad (bacon guac with mayo over spring mix)!

Kattyeyes, would you be so kind and share your ABC kale smoothie? I am trying to have kale 2-3 times a week and the only dish I truly love is kale salad with tahini dressing. Smoothie would be awesome :)

Baker's Angel Flake brand coconut (sweetened). I find it to be more moist than the generic and refuse to buy anything else from here on out...unless there is something even more wonderful I should know about. I am really high on this product. Organic coconut was not as nice as this. :)

Is there a thread somewhere regarding your experience making ginger hooch? I am currently obsessed with alcoholic ginger beer but the only brand I can find (Crabbies) is pretty expensive, and I'd love to try making my own.

Much of my energy has been focused out of the kitchen this past year. That said, I am pleased to have been able to achieve several of my kitchen goals for 2012!

My current kitchen has enough room for fermenting! I was finally able to get a good start and move through a decent amount of experiments. I learned a lot and developed some troubleshooting skills for next year.

The extra space also allowed me to finally make 7 day pickles, a recipe I had been intrigued with for many years. I'm so glad I did! The result is a very crisp, highly addictive sweet pickle. This is going to be a yearly tradition in my house in the future.

My sister and I prepared Thanksgiving together in her home. She wanted to master our Mothers recipes and requested my help. Our cooking styles are at opposite ends of the spectrum - I lean toward OCD and she finds staying focused to be like herding cats. It came off smoothly and everything was delicious. This was our third time trying this menu and she now feels she can do it unassisted! We put together a folder with the recipes, time table, ratios for brining and she added her notes on the process.

A goal for the year was to get some scented geraniums and start to play with them a bit. I used them in preserves and scented sugars. Had hoped to try them in baking - next year!

On a more mundane level I put in some time inventorying my freezer and pantry. The lists really helped me steadily start using up those items.

I found a decent assortment of scented geraniums at an otherwise uninspiring herb festival. They ran about $7 each. I bought rose and nutmeg scented varieties. The nutmeg was lovely - variegated cream and light green dainty leaves. I hope they over winter!

My gardening is limited to my deck now. The four legged devils known as squirrels have convinced me to give up on tomatoes so I'll have more room for other things!

I based my recipe on the description for Eloise's pickles and filled in some of the vague aspects after looking at other 9 day recipes, especially helpful was Marion Brown's Pickles and Preserves**. I worked out the ratios and cut the recipe down to a third of the original since I didn't want to make a large amount the first time.

Drain as before. Bundle spices in cheese cloth. Place bundle in pot with vinegar. Bring to a boil. Cover cucumbers with boiling vinegar, including the spice bundle. Weight, cover and keep at room temperature.

Drain cucumbers. Cut them down to 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices.Fill jars alternating a layer of cucumbers then a layer of sugar. Repeat until the jar is nearly full. Place sterilized lids on jars (I used the plastic screw style since I wasn't going to water bath process.) Eloise recommends laying a piece of waxed paper across the top first if you are using metal lids. This will prevent the lids rusting.

Several times a day turn the jars sideways and roll in your hand. This helps dissolve the sugar and produce the syrup. If the cucumbers are not covered in syrup after a day just gently tamp them down and add more sugar.

After 4 days (Day 12) all the sugar had dissolved leaving the pickle slices covered in syrup.

They are ready to eat!

Once opened I keep in the fridge. I used very small jars for some so I could keep them in the pantry and open monthly. I'm at 4 months and they have had no loss of quality.

These ratios produced about 3 pints of finished product.

*I use an old crock from a crock pot and have a ceramic saucer which is sized perfectly as a weight. Then I use the original glass lid to cover.

You see call for alum in many older recipes to help create a crisp pickle. These days not so much since large amounts are harmful. It can be a little hard to find.

For myself, I'm fine with it. I'm not in a reproductive point of life, I'm not feeding youngsters and I consume a small amount of the finished product. Plus the alum is rinsed off - the residual amount is not worrisome for me.

I will say that the results were firmer with a amazing crispness I have not experienced in other pickles. I have had pickles made with foodgrade lime - the alum pickles were much better imo.

I completely understand not wanting to use alum for a toddler. I'm sure it will be tasty if you just skip Day 2 entirely.

The alum creates a very crispy pickle. Pickling lime has similar issues to alum, so you probably wouldn't want to use it in place.

Some recipes call for soaking the cucumbers in ice water before starting a recipe. Another method is to use Pickle Crisp made by Ball. You'd have to read up on this product - I'm not sure at what point to add it.

As Kattyeyes says, there are many pickle recipes which are quicker. The process and length of time had always made me hesitant in trying this one - so it became a goal for me! I'm really glad I finally made them and feel they are entirely worth it.

Question about your scented geraniums. Do you leave the geranium leaves in the sugar or take it out? And how are you using it?

I made some anise hyssop raw sugar. Which smelled just wonderful after a few months. I gave some away as gifts.

But the blossoms and leaves were kind of moist and wilted in the sugar. The sugar itself got kind of moist. But - like I said - smelled wonderful. I wondered if it was safe. (That didn't stop me from giving it away though! Like I say, it smelled great.)

Mine is probably a little silly but 2012 was the first year I had to cook for real. I moved in with my BFin May and we agreed that I would do all the cooking. So I went from making the occasional full meal every now and then to meal planning, grocery shopping, and putting good meals on the table every night. My meal prep time every evening has become my favorite part of my day. I learned a lot in 2012 and look forward to learning more and becoming more adventurous in 2013. Chowhound has been a very valuable tool for me.

I think day to day cooking is more of a challenge than pulling off an occasional dinner party. There is so much to learn about timing, successfully using up ingredients and leftovers through out the week without becoming bored, taking advantage of seasonal bounty...it is never ending journey!

What Jon says. I generally go close to 24 hours before refrigerating, unless it's unusually warm.

I've seen recipes for creme fraiche among my cookbooks since the 1970s -- probably first in Perla Myers' Seasonal Kitchen that I shed in a cross-country move.

But somehow I never got around to trying it until this year. What pushed me was the greater local availability of excellent heavy cream (pastured). Culturing keeps it usable for longer. I use it in gratins, soups, sauces, as a sandwich spread, with roasted poblanos... heaven to have on hand.

Just remembered an eating high point that was also a cooking first (and turning point): grilled lamb kebabs with pita, fresh garden tomatoes and my first tzatziki sauce, using recipe from Veg. Cooking for Everyone.

The technique of pounding the garlic with salt in the mortar before adding to the yogurt and cucumbers was crucial, and I've continued it with great results in many other dishes.

FWIW, you could try pan-frying duck breasts skin side down 20 minutes over very low heat in a lightly greased skillet, after scoring them lightly with a very sharp knife, until the skin is crispy & the fat is rendered out, then baking for 8 minutes or so at 350F, skin side up, until they're medium rare, then letting them rest for 10 minutes and slicing them thinly. If you then take most of the grease out of the skillet, saute a minced shallot in the remainder & deglaze with something interesting like blackberries & port or quince jam & orange juice, you'll have a nice sauce to serve with them.

That pretty much describes exactly how I did our Christmas duck breasts, except that I just did the skin-side-up cooking in the pan, after removing a good bit of the fat. Port for deglazing, with port-soaked cherries added before saucing.

I was very glad to have an instant thermometer, to be able to hit the pre-resting temperature for medium rare (which was in the most helpful description of the process,in the Herbfarm book by Jerry Traunfeld), because breast halves can vary so much in size. Ours were 10 ounces apiece.